After getting over the shock of having survived a direct confrontation with a Night Fury, Toothless then had to get over the fact that the only reason he was in one to begin with was because he hadn't killed it. It'd been hurt badly, weak, it would have been easy, and yet he'd helped it! He'd helped one of the things that consistently brought pain and loss to his village!

He wandered the forest, thinking over and over again about his actions and the actions of the dragon. He tried to calm himself with target practice and some hunting, but he kept getting distracted and decided to give up.

Now, just after the sun went down, he stepped into his house. The first thing he noticed was that Skullcrusher was there, tending to the fire. Toothless didn't really want to speak with him at the moment, so he headed towards the stairs as quietly as he could.

He only got a few steps up before Skullcrusher called his name, standing and turning to face him.

He winced slightly. "Father." He hesitantly walked back down the steps. "I, uh, need to talk to you."

"I need to speak with you as well, Toothless." Skullcrusher said.

"I don't want to fight dragons." Toothless said.

"I think it's time you learned how to fight dragons." Skullcrusher stated.

They paused. "What?"

"You go first." Skullcrusher motioned.

"No, no, you go first." The younger insisted.

The chief nodded. "I'll be leaving for Helheim's Gate tonight." Toothless nodded. "It was decided that, while we were gone, you and the rest of the teens would begin dragon training."

Toothless sucked in a shocked breath, then plastered an excited grin. "Oh. That's... that's great!" Internally he was panicking.

Skullcrusher returned the smile, patting his shoulder. "You'll need this." He lifted a sword from it's spot on the wall, handing it to Toothless. He placed both hands on Toothless' shoulders, gazing down at him proudly. "When you carry that sword, you carry all of us with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more hiding in the shadows." Toothless tensed, fighting a scowl, hearing the unsaid meaning of those words.

No more hiding in the shadows. Like a coward.

He sighed in internally. "Yes, father."

Skullcrusher nodded. "Good. Train hard." He hoisted a sack onto his shoulder and put his helmet on. "I'll be back. Probably."

"And I'll be here. Maybe." The door closed, leaving Toothless alone.

What was he going to do?

Grump pushed up large gate doors and lead the teens into a large dome pit.

"Welcome to dragon training!" He said cheerfully.

Before she stepped foot inside, Storm took in a deep breath. "No turning back."

The teens walked in slowly, craning their necks and turning in circles as they finally lay eyes on the interior of the fighting ring. They'd all dreamed of this moment for their entire lives.

The twins started talking about their preferred method of scarring and where they hoped the scars would be. Toothless rolled his eyes as he walked in behind them, Storm was agreeing, so long as the scarring stayed below neck level.

'I hope you get a fire ball right to the face..' He thought.

Despite his hopes that he'd finally developed the ability to literally blend into the shadows, there were not many places for him to make use of his usual disappearing tricks and Hookfang spotted him easily.

"Oh, look," The slightly older teen sneered. "The Viking Wonder is here. I thought you caught a Night Fury, shouldn't you be disqualified?"

Toothless scowled, but didn't respond, instead turning to Grump, who was calling for them to line up.

"As ye know, the recruit who does best will get the honor of killing his first dragon, in front of the entire village!" He gestured to the large doors behind him. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!"

As he listed off each of the caged dragons, Toothless took the time to center himself. He'd be able to dodge, if it came to blows, he'd use the flat or pommel of his sword, worse comes to worse, he wouldn't deal any serious injuries.

Toothless turned his attention back onto Grump, who was standing at the last cage, declaring "-and, the Gronckle." while putting one meaty hand on the lever that would release the dragon.

"Woah, wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?" Hookfang stuttered, looking mildly panicked.

Toothless recognized the mischievous grin on Grump's face. "I believe in learning on the job." With that, he pulled the lever.

The doors burst open and a buzzing golden blur shot out, the teens scattered as the dragon flew past them and into the wall.

"Today is about survival!" Grump lectured as the dragon scooped up conveniently placed rocks into it's maw. "If you get blasted, you're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you'll need!"

"A doctor?" Magnhilde guessed.

"A shield!" Both Toothless and Storm exclaimed. As they all ran towards the shields, Toothless took notice of the fact that the dragon hadn't taken the time to fire at them, it had been searching the chain net above.

"Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, choose the shield!"

Deeming the arena inescapable for the time being and the viking teens a more crucial matter, the dragon dove down and scooped up a few rocks.

Toothless kept an eye on it, making sure he stayed out of it's range, all while shaking his head at his fellow teens antics, particularly Barf and Belch's.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots, how many does a Gronckle have?"

"Five?"

"No, six!"

"Correct! That's one for each of you!"

It didn't really surprise him when, soon, only he and Storm remained standing.

He sent a smirk in her direction. "Just you and me, Storm."

She smirked back, eyes narrowed. "Soon, it'll be just me."

They both dodged as the dragon fired at them, smacking their shields to disorient it. The Gronckle wavered in the air, shaking it's head as it tried to gain it's baring.

Toothless grunted as a blind shot struck the ground in front of him, the sound brought the dragon's attention to him and he dodged another shot. Thankfully, it was it's last.

Grump caught it with a hook he had at the ready. "That's six! Back t' bed ye overgrown sausage!" He threw it back into it's cage and slammed the gate shut. He turned back to the teens, dusting his hands off.

"Remember. A dragon always, always goes for th' kill."

Toothless' eyes narrowed. 'So why-'

"-didn't you?" I whispered to myself, holding the arrow I had pulled from the Night Fury.

I was back where I had freed it. All that was left was churned up dirt and grass, claw marks in the ground, broken branches, and some scales.

I frowned, and started walking in the direction it had flown. I didn't expect it to be anywhere near Berk right now, it was probably back at the Nest, but a part of me hoped, for some reason, that it had stayed.

There were a few broken branches, where it had smacked into the trees during it's escape, making a nice trail towards rock wall, which, after I squeezed through a convenient hole, hid a large cove. A nice place, but there wasn't any sign of a-

I gasped and threw myself down as a dark blur shot up inches from my face. The Night Fury hit the edge of the wall, claws scrambling, before it pushed off and made a clumsy landing at the other end of the cove. I jumped down to a couple of feet, ducking low as I watched the dragon.

It had shaken itself off from it's ungraceful landing and I watched as it launched off the ground and into the air, powerful wings propelling it up, up, up, and suddenly it let out a sound, and I was shocked to realize it sounded distressed, as it turned and almost crashed back into the dirt. It tried a few more times, but never got much higher than the treeline before it turned and landed. Finally, it seemed to give up, shrieking in what I could only assume was frustration.

"Why don't you just.. fly away?" I wondered quietly. The dragon blasted the ground in front of it, only to strike too close to it's face, causing it to flinch and turn, giving me a look at it's face.

Long, thin, deep and still bleeding gashes tore across the dragon's face, from the outer edge of one eye, across it's snout, and to the outer edge of the other eye. Even from a distance, I could see the start of infection and the way the dragon's eyes had trouble focusing.

It was going blind.

There was a sudden clatter, and I realized that I had still been holding the arrow head, and in my shock I had dropped it. Before I could try and hide, the dragon's attention had been caught, and it was now glaring in my direction. It was crouched low and I could see it's nostrils expanding as it tried to identify what it couldn't see.

The Viking juvenile had returned.

I could not see it, only a dark blur high up on the rocks, but I could recognize the smell.

It didn't make any sudden movements or loud noises, as most Dragons would expect from Vikings, but I had already decided that this particular Viking was different from it's Flock, it had freed me, after all.

I could only guess what it was doing. Observing me, probably, and that was not something I liked. I could no longer observe back, I couldn't detect signs of aggression from it's body, had it been closer I might have, but I could only smell it.

Finally it moved, and luckily it was not towards me. I watched as the dark smudge climbed up the rocks and disappeared.

I hated the stupid Viking. It had grounded me, and it had given me false hope when it freed me. Instead of being able to soar to freedom, I could not see far in front of me. My once superior vision in the dark was useless, nothing but darkness and smudges of flame from the Viking Nest. In the light it was only slightly better, but every time I tried, I could not seem to find the right direction.

Now, I could only wait, trapped on all sides and no longer able to fly again. Doomed to starvation, a brutal death by Vikings, or a slow, agonizing death when forest predators and maggots found my starved form.

My name in life had been Useless, and now, I'll die as Nobody.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So, I'm still alive! Sorry for the wait, got stuff going on and it's been hard to get the writing juices flowing

I made Hiccup blind, or partially blind, kinda got the idea from the show, where Toothless has echolocation. Which seems random, I haven't watched the full series, so I don't know if they gave an explanation on why he has that.

Anyways, hope ya like it!